Harry Potter and the Crow's Salvation
by onethos
Summary: Left alone in the hands of his relatives fate comes to knock and takes Harry. Dark Harry not evil. Xover. Rated M for graphic scenes.
1. Prologue

People once believed that when someone dies, a crow carries their soul to the land of the dead. But sometimes, something so bad happens that a terrible sadness is carried with it and the soul can't rest. Then sometimes, just sometimes, the crow can bring that soul back to put the wrong things right.

Harry's life had never been that great. From the beginning he was destined to misery. He was just leaving the Hogwarts Express after his fifth year. His godfather Sirius Black had been killed by his deranged cousin Bellatrix. And as if that wasn't enough just hours afterwards Dumbledore had told him that it was his destiny to face Voldemort whether he wanted to or not. To top things off his uncle hadn't even come to pick him up. He was forced to take the Knight Bus. Little did they know that Stan Shunpike would be the last person to see him alive.

He arrived soaking wet. He had asked Ernie if he could just drop him off at the end of the street so as not to make the Dursleys look 'out of the ordinary'. Unfortunately it was raining so hard it was mere second before he was soaked. He should have noticed the omen and normally would have had his mind not been focused on Sirius. Though had he been aware of the things around him he would have noticed Vernon standing in the doorway with the frying pan. He would have noticed when he raised it. And he would have run when he realized what was happening. Unfortunately he didn't and Vernon though obviously drunk didn't miss. The last thing that Harry saw was a bright flash before he passed out both from the blow and the pain it caused.

When Harry woke up he was tied to something. We wasn't sure what it was mainly because someone had taken his glasses. He tried to think back to what had happened to land him in this spot. The last thing that he remembered was his uncle standing in the doorway. Thats when it hit him. Both literally and figuratively. His uncle was the cause for all this. He knew that the man was capable of a lot but this was a little much even for him. But there was no doubting the evidence around him. Just then the door opened and as he feared his uncle was standing there.

"It's all your fault boy. It has to be." he could hear and smell the alcohol on his breath. This was bad. He knew his uncle and from the way that he was talking it looked like he had lost it. "She left me and it was all your fault. She said that she couldn't handle the abuse anymore and left. Took Dudders with her. But I know the truth. You used yourFreak craft on her didn't you." Vernon was standing over him now holding what could have only been a knife of some sorts. It was at this point that Harry knew that he was going to die. Not at the hands of some psycho Death eater. Not at the hands of Voldemort. No he would die at the hands of the man that Dumbledore trusted with his safety for the past 14 years.

His uncle raised the knife above his head. Holding it with both hands Harry could make out the smile of satisfaction on his face. "This isn't how I was suppose to die. What about the prophecy. What about all the people that are willing to give their lives to make sure that I finish my destiny. I have to protect them. I have to avenge Sirius. I can't die..." the rest of Harry's frantic whispers were masked as blood pooled into his lungs. He began to cough and wretch trying to clear a path so that he might be able to breath but it was useless. He was dead and he knew it. He had let everyone down. As the last of his power left his body a crow cawed outside his window as if it were waiting for this to happen.


	2. Chapter 1 The truce

AN Okay I know that it has been a while since my last update... ok since my only update but my comp has been down and I just now got it up srry about this all. But I will try to get better at the updates.

Albus Dumbledore was sitting in his office trying to fix some of the delicate instruments that Harry had broken. He didn't blame the boy. He had just lost the last family member that could have offered him a somewhat normal life. That is when it started. At first it was a low hum. A noise that Albus had grown use to over the years. It was an alarm that meant that Harry was in danger. Though normally it did go off during the summers it was rarely cause for alarm. Just then the low hum got louder and changed into a loud shrill. It took the headmaster all of two seconds to cross the room and check the instruments. It was then that he knew something was wrong.

"Fawkes I need you to take me to Harry."he said as he quickly strode over to the phoenix. He just hoped that he would not be too late. He grabbed the birds tail and felt the warming feeling as his body burst into flames alongside Fawkes. Unfortunately the feeling did not last for as soon as he saw what had once been Harry Potter all warmth left his body. The young man lay bloody on a bed hands and legs still strapped to the posts.

"Oh god please don't be dead." He said in vain as he reached for the boy. His body was still warm but he knew that would soon fade. He was too late. "Who could have done this." A list of names ran through his head before the words even left his mouth. And second from the top of that list was the man he was looking for. "**VERNON**" he launched himself from the room with a speed that he had thought had left him. It took him no time to find the whale of a man sitting in the kitchen staring blankly at a knife with what he knew to be Harry's blood on it. He had a look of glee on his face and a half drunken bottle of scotch in the other.

"What the hell have you done Vernon."the headmaster asked venom dripping from every word.

"Now she will come back to me. Now that that freak is finally gone he can't use magic on her and she will come to her senses." Vernon never took his eyes away from the knife. It was all that it took for Dumbledore. All he needed was the confession. He swiftly took out his wand aimed it at Vernon and without a word ended the mans life. He then walked over took the half empty bottle of scotch and drank the rest of it.

"How can he be dead. The prophecy states that only the Dark Lord could kill him." He took a seat and waited for the ministry or the death eaters to arrive. Now that Harry was dead there were no wards to protect the house. But the death eaters never came. Instead it was his own order that showed up first. Apparently Fawkes had gone to number 12 and alerted them to his whereabouts.

"Albus what is going on here." The headmaster could barely make out who had been talking to him. Minerva had just walked into the room and seen him there. "Albus what happened here and why is he dead" she was pointing at Vernon who had since fallen to the ground. He simply looked at her and pointed upstairs. He could hear her ask the rest to move as she went to investigate. He heard he gasp and then heard as she feinted from the sight of the boys mutilated body.

Two weeks had passed since Albus had found Harry dead and tomorrow would be his funeral. He would be buried next to his mother and father at the graveyard in Godrics Hollow. There was not going to be many people. Nor would there be a priest to overview the tragic event. Only close friends would be attending. Albus had asked if Petunia would like to come and pay her last respects to her nephew but she refused saying that he would not want her there. She simply said that she would beg for his forgiveness and hope that he would give it.

It had been a trying week for the headmaster. Being the closest thing to a relative the boy had it was up to him to see to everything. Not that there was much to do. He had gone around and told everyone what had happened. Then he told the press the truth. He had also asked the ministry to provide some security for the funeral as Voldemort was sure to make an appearance. It was a victory to him to have his enemy killed so surely he would try to interrupt everyones mourning.

The day of the funeral found many people in black suits and dresses standing in the rain around a casket. The auror's were keeping their distance in order to give the people some privacy. The turnout was a little more than Dumbledore had expected with many bringing relatives to offer them comfort. Hermione was there with her parents. As were the entire Weasley family save for Percy. The Tonks' were there as well as Remus. There were about a dozen other people who had showed up. No one bothered saying anything. No one had anything to say. Most were still in shock from what had happened to even think of what to say.

"Well what do we have here." The voice came from everywhere and sent shivers down the spine of all who heard it. "It seems that some one has beaten me to my prize." Just then a shadow appeared just behind the tombstone and quickly changed to into a man. If you could call it a man. There were tiny little slits where his nose should be and his eyes were glowing red. He wore a smile that would have scared everyone were they not already terrified. "Do not fear. I have not come to kill you. Today is a day for celebration. My enemy has been fallen for me and I didn't even have to lift a finger."he leaned over and opened the lid of the casket. Those who were close enough were able to see the ashen white face of Harry. Most cringed at the sight and took a few steps back.

"This is a place of mourning Tom and I ask that you leave her at once." Dumbledore said taking a step towards the snake like man. He raised his hand signaling the slowly advancing aurors to stop.

"Yes well I think that I will be leaving. I have so much to do now you know." And with this he turned to leave. He had only taken a few steps when he turned back to look at Dumbledore one more time. "By the way with him dead there is no need to keep the prophecy a secret. Care to tell me what it was or am I going to have to wait and pry it from your cold dead lips?" He smiled as he waited for a response. When none came he simply urned and disappeared into the shadows once more.

"Albus what are we gonna do now." Albus turned to see a very concerned face of Molly Weasley looking at him. "I mean if what I heard is right then Harry was the only one that would have been able to defeat him." the last word was laced with so much fear that it made him wonder how many more people were going to suffer in this war.

"There is only one other possibility." Albus said trying to remain as calm as was possible at a funeral. But it didn't work everyone there could tell that he was just as worried as everyone else. "But this is not the best place to speak about it. Come lets leave here. I fear that the truce will not last much longer."and with that he pulled out a rope and waited until everyone had taken hold before he activated the portkey.


	3. Chapter 2 The Awakening

The headmaster was a calm man. At least most of the time. In fact this was the first time that the deputy headmistress had ever seen him pace like this. His face was scrunched up in concentration while his arms were flailing about as if they had a mind of their own. It had been two days since the funeral and Voldemort had gone mad with the celebrations. It took almost everyone at the ministry to keep it from the muggles. It had started off with just a single town being burned to the ground. Then the area around it and finally the entire county was gone. The muggles were all blaming terrorists and in a sense they were right.

"We have to do this differently this time." McGonagall jumped at the the headmasters voice. "Yes we have to start the training right away. No more time to be subtle about it." the headmaster headed back to his desk and pulled out a piece of parchment. He started to write on it for several minutes before he decided that it was good.

"I am sorry headmaster but are you talking about Neville?" she didn't have to ask she already knew the answer. And it had nothing to do with Neville Longbottem. The headmaster had lost his mind. He had been acting strangely ever since the funeral. At first she was afraid that somehow Voldemort had cursed him but after she checked him herself she knew what the real problem was.

"Of course I am talking about him. He is our last hope you must realize this. The prophecy states that it must be him." His eyes had lost their sparkle. Now there were just dull and almost lifeless as if a part of himself had died with Harry. "I will train him myself. No one else can do it. Minerva cancel all his classes and schedule him to have private lessons with me instead."

"But sir what about the school. If you are teaching Neville the whole year who will take over your duties?" even as she asked this the headmaster was walking across the room towards the fireplace.

"I guess that I will have to vacate my position. I have to train him."He took a handful of floo powder and made a call to the Board of Governors. She couldn't hear what he was saying. In fact she barely even noticed the head sticking out of the fireplace. All she heard was those words echoing throughout the office. She never thought that she would see the day when the headmaster would openly step down like this. The only other time was when the Chamber of secrets was opened and they had talked about it planned it out. Now he was just leaving. Without so much as a second thought.

"Are you sure about this Albus. If you leave you cannot come back. Not only that but it is also halfway into the school year."It was the person in the fireplace who said this. She recognized him but for the moment she could not remember his name."Alright then I suppose that you have your reasons. I guess that leaves you in charge Minerva. I will go and start the forms. It should be final by the end of the day. You should be keyed in sometime this night. Albus I expect that you will tell her what needs to be done. It is much easier than learning from that book." and with that he was gone and there was nothing that she could do. She would be in charge of the school. She had hoped that this day would never come.

"Albus does this mean that you will be leaving." she new that if he would leave it would leave the school open to attack from Voldemort. Hopefully he knew this as well and still had enough sense to stay.

"Of course, we will need a place completely separate from the rest of the students though. Hopefully we can get the Room of requirement to lock out all intruders." he continued to mutter incoherently to himself for the next half hour before he handed her a book and left. She looked down at the book and saw the handwriting of the founders on the cover.

...

Lightening flared in the distance as a crow landed on the headstone of Harry Potter. It cawed as if calling for some one. At first she thought that it was odd. Now it was almost comforting. It had been there every day that she had. And she had been there often in the past six months since his funeral. Nymphadora Tonks had lost the two of the most important people in her life this summer. First it had been Sirius her uncle. She had just gotten close to him in the few months before the battle at the Ministry. Then it had been Harry. She wished that she had gotten to know him better. She could still remember the first time that she had seen him. It was in her last year at Hogwarts and he had just started. She watched as he went up to the sorting hat, and as he got sorted into her house and knew that she liked him. She didn't know why exactly it was just something about him that made her think that he was different then all the other guys she had met. And now she stood over his grave wishing that she could have gotten to know him better. She looked up at the crow. It had been there every day since the funeral. At first it annoyed her. Now it was somewhat comforting as if there was something out there that was looking over Harry.

The watch on her wrist beeped once telling her that it was nine at night. Once again she had spent the past three hours wondering why Albus hadn't listened to her. She had told him that they should have a guard with Harry at all times. But Albus refused stating that there was no one available. And when she said that she would do it he looked at her smiled and the said 'Miss Tonks I would hate to have you lose your job just to help the order out'. Of course she wasn't really doing it for the order that was just what she said. She had actually been doing it for herself. To try and get closer to Harry. But once again Albus had to do things his way. She looked at her watch just to make sure that she was right on the time.

"Well Tonks looks like you should be going." and with that she turned and started to walk away. It was then that the crow cawed once again. She turned and looked back at it. But it was no longer on the tombstone. It was now on the grass. The moving grass. As the earth began to move more and more it was clear that something was coming up, but the only thing that was down there was...Harry.

"HARRY" she screamed as she ran towards the grave. She had forgotten about her wand and instead started to move the earth with her hands. She kept digging looking for any signs of a person. She had just put her hands back in for the hundredth time raking the dirt out of the way when something grabbed her. She instantly recoiled as she saw a hand latched onto her wrist but the hand was too strong. It held on using her to pull the rest of itself out of the dirt. Then she saw what she had been hoping for. The untidy hair of Harry Potter. She grabbed with her other hand and help to pulled him out. When his head was out he let go of her and started to pull itself out of the dirt. He was halfway out when he stopped and looked at her.

"Where the hell am I" he asked. Unfortunately he would not get an answer as a few seconds later Tonks passed out.

...

Tonks awoke many hours later wondering where she was. She looked around the room wondering how she had gotten there. It was then that the door opened and Harry walked in that she remembered what had happened. She remembered standing over Harry's grave. She remembered turning to walk away and hearing the crow caw. She remembered the digging and the feeling of pure joy when she saw his dirt covered face. Then she remembered fainting and turned away from him trying to hide her blush.

"Good you're awake." he said as he walked in and took a seat on the chair next to the bed. He smiled at her and once again she had to turn to hide the blush. Unfortunately her hair she could not hide as it started to cycle through every color of the rainbow. "You're Tonks right?" All that she could do was nod her head. "Are you alright?" once again she nodded. "Can you talk?" this question came with a smirk on his face. And once again she blushed and nodded. "Well then now that we got that out of the way can you answer me a few questions." His voice was no longer as soft as it had been only seconds before. "What exactly happened to me cause the last thing that I remember was me getting stabbed by my uncle and dying." The coldness in his voice sent shivers down her spine but she decided to answer regardless.

"Well I am not exactly sure what happened to you Harry." she slowly sat up resting against the headboard. "Apparently from what I heard at least, your uncle went crazy and after you got home it hit you in the head with a frying pan."

"Yup I remember that. What I would like to know is why though."

"Well from what I know, which isn't that much he apparently blamed you for your aunt leaving him."

"I think remember him saying something about that but at that time my head felt like it was hit with a frying pan." he got up and headed to the window where a crow was sitting on the outside. He opened the window allowing the crow to fly in and land on his shoulder. "He killed me didn't he." the question came out so bluntly that she couldn't answer it. All she could do was nod but he didn't need her to answer.

"Harry how exactly are you here." she asked after a minute. "I mean I was at your funeral. You've been dead for six months. And where are we for that matter." she had finally taken the time to look around the room. There was a large window on one wall allowing the sun to light the room naturally. There was a chair in the corner and a door on the wall opposite the window that she could only assume led to the rest of the residence.

"For starters I have no idea how I am here. The last thing that I remember was choking on my own blood. If I had to guess it would be a combination of my new friend here and the prophecy. And has it really been six months. And lastly this is... well I don't know what this is." and with that he plopped back down on the chair. "All that I know is that I have been given a second chance to complete that stupid prophecy. And apparently this guy is here to help." He made a vague gesture to the crow that was now perched on the window sill. An awkward silence filled the room as both sat wondering what was gonna happen next.

"So what was it like being dead I mean." she could no longer stand the silence and had said the first thing that had come to her mind. Harry opened his mouth to answer her when the watch on her wrist started singing. "Crap the order is calling a meeting." She paused as a realization came over her. "What am I gonna tell them about you?" she asked in a slightly panicked voice.

"Why would you need to say anything. If what you say is right then I have been dead for six months. Doubt that they would just be getting to me now. Anyways I made sure to fix my grave. Everybody will think that I am still down there. Which is probably a good thing. Anyways I need to go to Diagon alley. Need to find my wand and stuff." and with that he stood and headed for the door. As he reached for the handle he stopped and looked back at her. "Are you sure that you can keep this a secret?" he grinned and ducked out the door without allowing her to respond.

...

"Thank you all for coming." Minerva was trying to look like she belonged at the head of the table. The entire order had been called for this meeting. "I guess that you are all wondering why you have been called here. I believe that it would be best to be blunt. Albus Dumbledore is no longer going to be the headmaster." the response was immediate half of the order looked at her as if she had a squid dancing on her head and the other half started screaming, though with all of the screaming at once she could not tell what anyone was screaming about. The only one that did not respond was a young pink haired witch who was staring at the wall as if in a trance.

"What do you mean he is no longer going to be the headmaster?" Molly Weasley had finally managed to get silence everyone else with a stare that could have challenged a basilisk. Minerva just looked at her as if she was asking the same question.

"He has decided after much thought that he will no longer be able to fulfill his duties." She decided that it would be easier to tell them this rather than the fact that he had lost his mind and left in order to train Neville. The headmaster had not seen anyone except for her and Severus for the past five months.

"So who is going to protect the castle." Again the question came from Molly. And again she looked at her as if she was asking the same question.

"I am the new headmaster. And the teachers here should be able to keep the castle safe from anything that should try to harm it or the students." even as she said it she knew that it was not true. Everyone in the room knew that it was not true though no one would say so. "With that being said is there anything else that someone would like to say?" she tried to stop the next question that she knew Molly wanted to ask. Though she did notice the pink haired witch twitch a little as she asked the question. She pushed the thought away as Kingsley Shacklebolt stood. "Yes Kingsley any news on Voldemort's movements?"

"Yes thank you Minerva. It appears that Voldemort is starting to plan something big. His normal raids have slowed considerably and are now only one or two a week. Also we have gotten word from some of the other countries. America says that they will send us a 50 men. Canada is sending 100. France and Ireland are going to be tightening their security on the borders as well as all apperation and portkeys." The ministry had finally asked some of the other countries for help with the death eaters and thankfully their request had been answered. The extra protection would help since Voldemort had also been increasing his forces. The news appeared to help everyone as they all suddenly looked a few years younger after hearing it.

"Well then if that is all then I believe that this meeting is over." Once again she had stopped Molly from asking the dreaded question with the dismissal. Everyone got up from their seats and headed towards the doors that lead into the great hall. They had long since abandoned _Grimmauld Place. Not knowing whether or not Bellatrix had gained possession of it. As soon as the door opened everyone broke out into a hushed whisper. The teachers had all gone back to their rooms at the castle and everyone else made their way to the temporary apperation point. Everyone except for Nymphadora Tonks who remained seated staring at the wall. She walked over to the young witch and put her hand on her shoulder._

_ "Tonks is there something that you want to talk about." She asked giving her shoulder a light squeeze. She turned and looked at her with a shocked expression her face._

_ "He's back"_


	4. Chapter 3 Family Ties

A/n

I would like to apologize for how long it took me to update but my computer got a nasty virus and it had to be nuked (the virus not the computer) which ended up with me losing all of my stuff. And I had a lot of stuff on it so. Anyways on with the story.

"_Tonks is there something that you want to talk about." She asked giving her shoulder a light squeeze. She turned and looked at her with a shocked expression her face._

"_He's back"_

…

Minerva McGonagall looked at the young witch with a confused look on her face. "What do you mean who is back dear?" she asked as her face changed into a more concerned mothering face. She knew that Tonks was having a hard time with what was happening. She had been one of the only ones to know that the young woman in front of her had had feelings for the young man that had died a little over six months ago. And to top it all off she had lost her uncle a few days before Harry. She feared that the woman had finally snapped. But what she saw on her face surprised her the most. She was smiling as if she had just won the Daily Prophets lottery.

"He's really back" she said once more before she took off out of the room running faster than she would have thought possible.

…

Harry wasn't sure what he was doing here. He knew that if he was seen it may ruin everything. What everything was he had no idea but for some reason he felt as if he had a plan. He didn't pay attention to where he was walking until his had reached out to grasp a handle. It was then that he looked up to see the white marble doors of Gringotts. He smiled as he walked in knowing that if there was anyone that he could trust it would be someone that was outside of what was going on in the wizarding world. But as he walked up to the nearest clerk his smile faded slightly. Wasn't he suppose to be dead?

"How may we help you today?" the goblin asked taking Harry out of his musings.

"Um I was wondering if my account was still open." he stated deciding to get it over with as fast as possible. He subconsciously noted where the exits where in case he had to make a quick escape but once more he was taken out of his musings when the goblin answered him without looking up from his counting.

"Of course your account is still open Mr. Potter. Please follow me." and with that the goblin hopped off his chair bowed and headed towards the back of the bank. There was a large crowd between the two and luckily for Harry he had managed to 'find' a hat in muggle London. He quickly followed the goblin towards the back of the bank. They headed through another set of marble doors these ones slightly smaller than the front ones. Once they were away from the immediate threat of the crowds something clicked in his head.

"How did you know who I was?" he asked looking at the goblin more closely than before. It was then that he realized that he recognized him. It was Griphook the goblin that had helped him when he had first come to Gringotts.

"Well Mr. Potter most people may not know this but each account is registered a goblin. As soon as you enter the bank a special goblin magic activates subconsciously pulling you towards that goblin." he stopped as they reached an oak door. He opened the door to reveal an office and walked around the large oak desk to sit down. He motioned for Harry to sit down at the other chair across from his. "After you enter the bank and reach your teller the goblin is notified of who is sitting there waiting for him." he smiled a smile that Harry believed should have been comforting if it had not revealed so many sharp and pointy teeth.

"So even though I am technically dead you are still registered to my account?" Harry asked understanding what he had been told.

"Well magic works in mysterious ways Mr. Potter. Even though technically you are dead your magic is still alive and that is what we see. So to us you never died because your magic was still there. And might I add that came in handy when we had to deal with the minister of magic. He wasn't happy when we told him that he could not have all of your estate. And for that we must thank you. It was actually quite amusing being able to tell the minister no." once again the smile appeared on his face and once again Harry was reminded of the sharks he use to see in the books at his primary school.

"So my account is still registered under my name." he stated smiling slightly to himself. It solved one of his problems. Once again a plan started formulating in his head without realizing it. Almost as if it was someone else thinking it and putting it in his head. "Tell me Griphook what exactly in registered in my name?" once again it was Griphook's turn to smile.

"Well then I see that it is time to get down to business." He reached down and pulled open a drawer and drew some papers that made no sense to Harry. "Since you are now sixteen you are entitled to the full Potter fortune as left to you from your mother and father. Lets see here there are several accounts here at Gringotts as well as numerous businesses and a couple of properties. Also there is everything that Sirius Black left you. Adding it all together it makes you one of the richest wizards in the world." this time the smile that occupied was no longer one of comfort it was now one of pure happiness. A sight that is rarely seen on a goblin. He vaguely remembered Hermione saying something about being able to make a wish when you saw a goblin smile but chalked it up to a silly superstition.

"So let me see if I got this strait." he said after looking at the piece of paper that was handed to him. "I own controlling shares in a vast majority of the wizarding thanks to the investment's of both the Potter and the Black families."

"Well yes and no. Being two of the oldest families you also inherited a lot of the smaller families investment's. Families that have long since disappeared. We goblins took every precaution to ensure that the Potter line always had more money then they knew how to spend. Your's was one of the only families to support us during the great goblins wars that took place so long ago. Though that is not common knowledge."

"Okay so on top of all the money that I have and the wizarding businesses that I have shares in I also own numerous muggle companies." Harry paused as he though of this. Obviously the Blacks would have nothing to do with this. "And I am guessing that this is all thanks to the Potter's and whatever families that were joined into them through the ages." Griphook smiled at this realizing that Harry was understanding everything that he was seeing. A feat not often seen in one so young.

"Yes that is correct." at this he rifled through the sheets that he had pulled out from his drawer and handed the over to Harry. "And this is all of the properties that you own."

"Wow this is a lot of stuff." he said after briefly glancing through the page. It was then that he noticed a certain name on the list. "Wait it says here that I own a piece of Hogwarts." he gave the goblin a questioning look.

"Ah yes that." he said lacing his hands together and resting his chin on them. "There is a very good explanation for that. You are the last surviving descendant of Godric Gryffindor." he smiled as he watched Harry's chin fall into his lap. He watched and laughed a little inside as Harry tried to stutter out a response. "You see Godric only had one child a daughter. And her hand was sought after by many. It wasn't until one Mathayus Potter did she finally accept. Since she was his only kin he left everything to the Potter line even though Mathayus was willing to become a Gryffindor so that his child could become the next heir." once again Harry sat dumbfounded not knowing what to say.

"How do you now all this?" he asked after five minutes of silence.

"Well my family has always been entrusted to the Potter family and so we pass down all of our knowledge to the next. My father served your's. And his father was served by my grandfather and so on."

"Well this is a lot to think about. Um do you mind if I take a copy of all this with me when I leave." he said after letting everything settle upon him.

"Of course this is all yours anyway. So I take it that you would like to make a withdrawal." He smiled as he made a copy of all the files.

"Uh yeah I guess so." once again another plan came into his mind and before he could think about it he asked another question. "Since you are in charge of my estate you also have all of my personal effects right." he smiled as the goblin nodded finally realizing what he was going to ask. "okay so where is my wand?"

"Your wand would be in your vault along with everything else that was in your school trunk. We took it in after you had died and stored it in your trust vault. We also took the liberty of removing the Ministry enchantments on it. Please follow me." and with that he opened the office and led Harry to the tram that was waiting for them.

…

After Tonks had left the meeting she had headed strait to the graveyard. For some reason she had to be sure that what she had seen had actually happened. As if her senses would lie to her to make her happy. And now that she was looking at the upturned grave and the open empty coffin of Harry Potter she knew that it was real. And just as suddenly she knew that she had to keep it a secret. She pulled out her wand and quickly cleaned up the grave. She closed the coffin and moved it back into its position then she replaced the dirt and the snow that was covering the grave.

In her surprised state she wasn't really paying attention to where she had walked until she found herself at the door leading to the room where she had awoken that morning. She cautiously opened in hoping that what she had seen earlier was real. She still had doubts in the back of her mind much against her will. She opened the door was once again was surprised to see Harry. He was sitting the same chair that he was when she had awoken reading a stack of paper's.

"So Tonks were you able to keep the secret for one day?" he asked without looking up from his papers. When he finally did look up he smiled at her surprised face. She was wearing her normal black regulation auror robes. "Hello are you there." getting a little concerned he stood up and walked over to her snapped his fingers in front of her face. Growing even more concerned when once again he got no reaction from her he gently grabbed her shoulders and shook her. It was then that she fell to the floor and began to cry. Never having had to deal with a crying girl before let alone a crying woman Harry was baffled.

"Tonks what's wrong?" he asked finally deciding what he thought was best he knelt down and placed his arm around his shoulder. Of course what followed was not what he expected her to do. She had grabbed him wrapped her arms around his waist leaned her head on hi shoulder and began to cry even harder. Once again at a loss as to what to do he wrapped his other arm around her and gently rubbed her back. It was something that he had seen in a movie once and hopped that it would work in real life.

"I thought you were gone for good." she said after her sobs had died down a little.

"Technically you did. I mean I was dead for six months." Unfortunately this was not the right thing to do as she once again broke down into frantic sobs and squeezed him even tighter. Realizing that there was little to do he reached under neath her and lifted her up. He walked over to the bed and placed her down. Unfortunately she refused to let him go when he tried to pull away. Giving up he decided that the best course of action was for him to wait until she fell asleep and then move. "It's alright Tonks I'm not leaving again."

A/n

Well once again folks I would like to apologize for the late update I hate virus's . So anyways thanks for reading and don't forget to review! XD


	5. Chapter 4 Explanations and Traps

Tonks awoke from the best sleep that she had had in months. She took a deep breath as she tried to remove the sleep from her eyes. It was then that she felt the comfy body that she was using as a pillow. She could smell something that reminded her of pine forest and as she looked up she saw that she had fallen asleep in the arms of the man that only last week she had thought she had lost forever. It was then that she remembered all that had transpired in the past two days and she once again had to fight back tears as she wondered for the tenth time if this was all a hallucination or if it all really happened. Not that she cared if it was all a figment of her imagination she was willing to sacrifice her sanity if it meant that she could stay like this forever.

"So you're awake are you?" his voice broke her from her train of thought and she looked up into his smiling face. As her gaze led her to those emerald eyes that she had dreamt so many times of being lost in she knew that it had to be real. Never before had they looked so perfect. Not even in her dreams where stared at her filled with love had they every been this amazing and once again she was at a loss for words.

"Hey are you okay." he asked. It was then that he noticed the water begin to build up at the edges of her eyes and knew that he had to do something. But once again he was not prepared to deal with a crying woman. But what happened startled him. Just as he closed his eyes preparing for the onslaught of tears that he knew was to follow a pair of lips enveloped his own. To say that he was shocked was an understatement. Once again he was at a loss as to what he should do and just as his mind began do kick start into gear she pulled away and rested her head on his chest.

"I don't care if this is real. I just want this to last forever." Tonks said as she listened to his nonexistent heartbeat. At this point a throughly stunned Harry began to laugh. She looked at him wondering what her imagination was doing laughing at her.

"Tonks this is real. I don't know how but I am here. I am alive...well sorta. Not sure what exactly I am but I am real." Harry paused to gauge her reaction. He was positive that the shear amount of emotions that raced across had to be a record or something. In the span of five seconds she went from a dreamy delirious state to happy, relieved, confused, embarrassed, shocked, and then back to embarrassed as well as twenty other emotions that he was positive he would never have heard of before. Then as if her hair was on fire she jumped from the bed, ran to the other side of the room and locked herself in the bathroom. This once again caused him to laugh as he rose from the bed and crossed the room at a much calmer and more reasonable pace.

"So mind telling me why it was that you kissed me?" he asked fully intending of taking advantage of the moment to embarrass her to the point that she would no longer be able to look at him.

"Nope not really." she replied from the other side of the door.  
"Are you sure cause it sounded to me like it wasn't the first time that you did it. In fact it almost sounded like you thought that you were still in a dream." he tried to twist the knob on the door to no avail. Either she had locked it or she was holding it so tightly that it had broken off.

"Well you must have been hearing things. Cause it was an accident." she knew that it was useless. She knew that she would never live this one down. The graceful thing to do was admit the truth. But then again anyone who knew Tonks knew that she was anything but graceful.

"Oh well then I guess that there is no need to tell you that I enjoyed it is there. I mean if it was an accident." They both knew that he was playing dirty but fortunately it worked as no sooner had the words left his mouth did Tonks faint.

…

The headmistress was startled awake when she heard the knocking on her door. She didn't realize it but apparently she had fallen asleep at her desk. She knew that it would be hard to run the school but she had hoped that it would be a little easier once the term had started. But here it was halfway into the year and she was still up to her neck in paperwork. It had taken her almost all summer to find a new Transfiguration and a new DADA teacher. And then she had to reverse all the policies that the toad had put in place. She had only just finished that in order to start the new term. Luckily she had a very reliable charms teacher who had graciously taken on the roll of deputy headmaster and was able to handle all of the new students.

She was broken from her thoughts when someone knocked on the door once again. She didn't know how but she was certain that it was Hermione Granger who was knocking. Deciding to trust her gut she invited the young girl in.

"How can I help you Ms. Granger?" she asked as she opened the door. The younger witch walked in and sat down without hesitating.

"Well I am not sure if you knew this but after Harry died Hedwig has been staying with me." She said. But even though she had tried to keep her voice level the headmistress heard the slight waver at her dead friends name.

"Yes I was aware of this. Why is there a problem." she asked concerned for both the owl and one of her favorite students.

"That's the problem. She disappeared. At first I thought that this was normal. You know that she just wanted to get out for the night. But she hasn't come back and it has been two days now." She paused at this point as if wondering if she should continue.

"Well I can see why you wold be worried but Hedwig is a smart owl. Actually one of the smartest that I have ever seen. I am sure that she is fine." replied the Minerva hoping that it would help the girl.

"No it's not that. I know that she will be fine. The thing is I read in a book that some familiars are so in tune with their masters that they can even sense their magic no matter how scarce it is. What if she believes that Harry is still out there, in some form." she finished with a look that of hope for her friend.

Of course Minerva had read the same book. And she knew that it was a possibility. She also knew that some familiars were so in tune with their masters that when their master dies the familiar goes to their grave and sits there waiting for death as well. Of course Hermione knew this as well but refused to think that way hoping beyond hope that Harry was back... Back.

"He's back" the headmistress whispered to herself as she remembered what the young auror had told her just the other day. It was a long shot but she was more then willing to bet on it. Of course she couldn't say anything until she knew all the facts. Luckily Hermione had not heard her and was now staring out the window.

"Well it is possible Hermione that Harry might be back. But I wouldn't dwell on the thought. He wouldn't want you to think like that. He would want you go on and be happy." she was saying exactly what she knew the young witch wanted to hear hoping to be able to get her to leave while still being kind about it. She had to find out the truth.

"Do you really believe that he could be back?" she asked the exact question that Minerva didn't want to ask herself. Did she really believe that Harry could be back. Or was it simply that she wanted him to be back. It didn't matter now. She would find out the truth.

"I hope so." but even as she said it a small trickle of doubt entered her mind. "I really hope so." she was talking more to herself then the young witch in front of her. She watched as Hermione raised from the chair hope now shining in her eyes for her lost friend.

…

It was now five months since Albus had started to train Neville. And while the boy had lots of potential it was going to be a long time before he would be ready to hold his own against even one of the dark lords inner circle, let alone the dark lord himself. Maybe if he had trained Harry none of this would have happened. Maybe if he had told him about the prophecy he would still be alive. Maybe...

It had been like this everyday and every night since he had started the training. All of the maybes and the what ifs that had filled his head were driving him crazy. He knew that he shouldn't be thinking like this. That he needed to focus on training Neville. But even though he knew that he shouldn't he couldn't stop the thoughts from coming. Eventually it had gotten to the point that he had to use occulmencyto stop the thoughts in order to simply cast a spell.

He watched as once again Neville attempted to navigate his way through the course that he had set up. It was a simple course one that Harry would have had no problem with. Maybe that was his problem. The fact that he kept on comparing Neville to Harry. The fact that the prophecy could have been about either of them was the only thing that the two really had in common. Harry was a fighter. He was always best on his feet thinking by the seat of his pants. Neville on the other hand was best when he didn't have make a decision on the fly. Something that Albus was trying to change. He was trying to make Neville more like Harry. Able to make a decision on the fly. One that might mean life or death. Unfortunately Neville always froze in those situations and instead of making a decision that might save the lives of those around him he made no decision and cost the lives of everyone. Albus realized that it would be a long time before he was ready. He simply hoped that wizarding world would last that long.

…

After Harry had finished laughing to himself he slowly opened the door to find Tonks passed out leaning over the edge of the bath tub. As he slowly lifted her up and moved her back to the bed he began to think about last night and how she had fallen asleep in his arms. He thought about the kiss and how amazing it was. He watched as the sleeping witch moved in her sleep. Just then there was a tapping at his window and he looked out to see and old friend waiting for him. He walked over and opened it allowing the snowy owl to fly in and land on the headboard above the peacefully sleeping Tonks. Just as he was about to close the window and address his old friend another bird flew in. It was a crow. The crow landed next to Hedwig and stared at Harry.

"It's good to see you girl." Harry stated to his owl.

_Good to see who?_

Harry jumped at the voice that came out of nowhere. He looked around the room wondering where it had come from.

_Over here._

Once again he looked around the room his eyes scanning now for disillusion charms and invisibility cloaks.

_The bird on the headboard genius_.

He took a look at the two birds sitting on the headboard. He watched as the crow smiled at him, an action that he would have thought impossible had he not been seeing it with his own eyes. It was now Harry's turn to faint and he did.

…

Harry awoke several hours later with a pain in the back of his head. He was back on the bed and he noticed that both birds were now sitting on a perch that was not there earlier. It was then that he remembered why he had fainted.

_No you were not imagining things._

Even though he had been expecting it it still to Harry by surprise to hear the bird talk.

_Technically I am not talking._

"Can you hear what I am thinking?" He asked as he got up off the bed. He noticed that Tonks was not in the apartment which made it slightly easier knowing that no one else would be around to believe that he was crazy.

_Yes. Now before you say or think anything else I think that I should explain what exactly is happening. As you know you died. No easier way to put it you bit the big one. Fortunately... or unfortunately depending on your point of view the powers that be have decided that it is not your time. Or something like that. I couldn't care less. All that I know is that I am here to guide you through whatever crap it is that you gotta do._

"You mean defeating Voldemort?"

_Yeah sure that guy. So I have been sent here to bring you back to life and give you some gifts so that you can do what you need to do then I get to do this spiel all over again with the next dumb ass that the fates decide got dealt a bum hand._

"So what are you like an angel or something?"

_Ha. Don't tell me you believe in that whole heaven or hell crap._ The bird paused to watch as Harry scowled at it wondering how he had managed to get such a idiot after all these years. 'Thought that they would finally upgrade me to something above a wet behind the ears teenager like this. Well might as well make the best of this situation and see how badly I can corrupt this guy.' the bird thought to itself knowing that while he could hear almost everything that Harry thought the opposite was not possible. A grin appeared on his face that looked exactly like what the twins would get while thinking up a new prank or product.

"Well if they aren't real then what the hell are you?" he asked wondering what type of nightmare he had gotten himself into this time.

_I am simply a guide of sorts. Look all that you need to know is that I am the one that is in charge of training you to be able to do what you need to do. And trust me this is a lot easier on my part because you are a magical being. The last shit head that I had was completely useless. Stupid muggle bastard thought that he was a god of some sort. Needless to say it was hilarious to watch as my boss had to come down and clear the whole thing up. _Harry knew that the bird was talking more to himself than it was to him. Luckily it gave him some time for his mind to comprehend all that was happening.

"So let me get this strait. I was killed. That one is pretty obvious." Harry continued ignoring the birds sarcastic reply. "And after I was killed the 'Powers That Be' decided that I was still needed to complete the prophecy and so they sent you to not only bring me back from the dead but also to train me so that I can complete the prophecy."

_So far so good. Maybe you are not as stupid as you look. Now as I was saying the fact that you are a wizard makes it a lot easier as we can openly communicate. Luckily you are not the first wizard that I have trained. Not by a long shot. And you will doubtingly be the last either. Now I guess that I should introduce myself. My name is Grex. I was alive many many years ago about the same time as Godric Gryffindor your ancestor. Though I was from a different part of the world. I was a wizard such as yourself and known as one of the most powerful in the land._

"Alright Grex where do we start?" Harry asked eager to begin his training.

_We will need a place to train. Preferably someplace secure. And yes before you ask you can bring along that Tonks woman. There are somethings that I will not be able to teach you alone. So for now I guess that we should get to know each other a little better while we wait for her to return._

…

Tonks had awoken to find Harry lying unconscious on the floor. Knowing after checking to make sure that there was nothing wrong with him she had placed him in the now vacant bed and had left to go into the office. The death eaters had been quite lately so there was little work other than the basic guard duties. Duties that were rarely given to the young auror. And today would be no exception. With nothing to do she decided that she should go and pick up a few things from Diagon Alley. She wasted no time in appariting to the mostly deserted alley that use to be the liveliest places she knew. She wasted no time in going into one of the many shops that inhabited the alleyway and quickly purchased a few things that she had been running low on.

After twenty minutes of shopping she was ready to go back to the apartment and spend more time with Harry. Just as she was about to apparate away something grabbed her arm. Turning she saw one of the last people she had been hoping to see that day.

"Hello Ms. Tonks do you mind if we had a word." and with that she felt the familiar tug of a portkey.


	6. Chapter 5 Revealations and Plans

A/N Warning the following chapter might have some Dumbledore bashing. If you don't like this well too bad cause I really dislike Albus. Now on with the Show.

It took a few minutes for the world to stop spinning. Taking a portkey usually never did this but when she was forced to take one without any warning it usually ended up with her on the floor rubbing a sore backside.

"What was that for?" she asked. She didn't need to look at the person that brought her here. She knew it was the Headmistress. She was hoping that her earlier comment had gone unnoticed but alas her luck was not that great.

"Oh I was just hoping that we could continue the conversation we were having the other day." she said as she moved behind her desk. Seeing Tonks now all of her suspicions were confirmed. Harry was back. There was no other way that the young woman who only weeks ago was mourning the death of two of the people that she cared for could be so happy and flippant.

"I don't know what you are talking about." Tonks replied looking at the floor. She knew that she was caught. But she wouldn't go down without a fight. She had to keep her promise to Harry.

"Now now young miss Tonks we both know that is a lie. But if you wish to play hardball then so be it." She drew her wand from its resting spot on the desk and pointed it at her palm. "I swear on my magic and my life that everything told to me in confidence from Nymphadora Tonks shall not leave this room." As she said the last word her wand glowed a soft blue before spreading out to include herself and Tonks with its bright aura. This of course was the last thing that she had been expecting. It was not common anymore for people to magically bind a secret to themselves. It showed a great deal of trust and for once Tonks felt like she could say anything that she wanted. She knew that it was a part of the spell but it was still a nice feeling.

"I'm still not sure that I can tell you Headmistress. I was told that I couldn't tell anyone." She sighed knowing full well that the woman in front of her would easily be able to weasel the information out of her.

"Please call me Minerva we are all friends here. Now I am sure that whoever this is concerning would not mind me knowing whatever it is you had to say." And there it was the small crack that broke the entire dam that she had been trying to hold in for the past few days. Once again Tonks sighed only this time in defeat.

"He's back. I still can't believe. I'm even afraid that I might be imagining things but its true and I have no idea how. He just popped out of nowhere with that stupid smile on his face and then..." she trailed off remembering what had happened in the past few days. A smile crept across her lips as she remembered what she had done that morning.

"I am afraid that I have no idea who you are talking about Tonks." The headmistress smiled and evil smile. She knew exactly who she was talking about but it would be worth so much more to hear Tonks say the name out loud. Tonks just glared at Minerva.

"You know damn well who I am talking about." she paused and waited to see if the headmistress would say anything. When she didn't she had to restrain from throwing her arms up and shouting the name. "Harry. Harry is back is that what you wanted to hear?" she glared at the older woman as she started to laugh at her. "And how did you know that he was back. I mean we have been very careful not to let anything slip."

"You mean other than yesterday when you told me 'He's back'. Well Hedwig was under the care of Ms. Granger since... that." she paused as the grave images flashed through her mind. "Anyway as I was saying. Hedwig was under the care of Ms. Granger until just the other day when the owl took off and never returned. That and when I saw you in the alley I saw how happy you were and there was only one thing that could do that."

"So if I hadn't said anything you would simply have assumed that Hedwig had flown off to find a nice place to die and thought that I had snapped." Tonks had decided to read between the lines. Once again her antics caused a light chuckle from Minerva.

"Yes something like that. So you have no idea how he came back. Hmm well I must admit that it is rather puzzling. Does Harry have any ideas?" she asked with a serious look on her face. Even though she was glad to know that the young man whom she considered family to be back she was curious is to how it had happened.

"Not sure. We haven't really talked much. Usually one of us is rendered unconscious from one thing or another. Though I am sure that you could ask him. Now that you know and since you swore a magical oath not to tell anyone he should be happy to discuss it with you. Though he might not be too happy with me."

"I shall take the blame entirely for any ire you might suffer from you Mr. Potter." And with that she stood up and handed the younger witch a quill. She watched Tonks cast the portus spell and without hesitation she placed a finger on the newly created portkey.

…

Harry was beginning to wonder where Tonks had gone to. He knew that she was an auror but he also knew that because of her special gifts she would not be sent out into the field for regular duties. He had heard her say to most everyone at the order that the people at the ministry didn't care about the fact that she had graduated top five in her auror training class. All they cared about was the fact that she could chance her appearance and make it appear real.

Deciding that the best thing to do would be to wait he laid back on the bed. Not for the need of sleep but simply because it was more comfortable. He had gotten his wand back from Gringotts and after searching around one of his many vaults he found a very comfortable wrist holster the he had placed his wand in. Luckily he had practiced because at that very moment he sensed the incoming portkey. With reflexes that he didn't know he possessed he grabbed the nearest body and drawing his wand was about to curse it from here to high heaven. Unfortunately the body that he had grabbed was the one belonging to a witch with notorious balance issues. The result was that instead of being able to even think of a curse he had to brace himself as he fell to the floor. Once again acting on instincts he maneuvered his own body so that it landed underneath the other one protecting it.

Minerva simply watched as the young witch and wizard fell to the floor a small chuckle leaving her lips. It was then that she noticed the redness of the young witch. Wondering what could have happened to have created such a brilliant shade she looked closer at the predicament. Looking down at the girls chest she realized what had happened. When harry had grabbed Tonks he had grabbed her in a very... inappropriate manner? Yes it was definitely inappropriate. Of course this didn't stop her from laughing to herself until she was blue in the face.

Harry was still holding onto the figure wondering who the body belonged to. He could vaguely hear laughing but for some reason is mind was drawn to the soft objects in his hands. He gave them a light squeeze wondering what exactly he was holding when he heard a soft 'meep' escape from the body. It was then that everything came into focus. The laughter that he was definitely hearing belonged to Professor McGonagall. The body belonged to Tonks and the things in his hands were her...

"Oh my god. Tonks I am so sorry I didn't mean to attack you like that." he said quickly letting go of his friends allowing her to to jump up and run to the bathroom closing and locking the door behind her. Harry jumped up as soon as the door was closed and turned away from his Professor who had fallen into the chair holding herself while she laughed at him. Wait a second Professor?

"Uhh Professor what are you doing here." He asked all thoughts of the earlier happenings washed from his mind.

"That Mr. Potter is a good question. One that will have to wait until miss Tonks is able to free herself from the other room in order to be answered properly." she smiled knowing that even though at the moment he had forgotten what had happened once she was gone the two would be in a very uncomfortable position. She simply wished that she could stay to watch.

…

After locking the door Tonks had leaned against it sliding down until she was sitting on the floor. It was taking everything she had to try and get her breathing under control. Unfortunately she was failing miserably. Her heart was racing as well and the combination of the two was making sure that any reasonable thought that normally would have entered her head was thrown out for the more absurd.

'I can't believe that he grabbed me. Oh my god what is going to happen.' more of the same thoughts kept racing from her mind one after the other. She knew that she liked him. And from the playful banter that had happened she supposed that he might like her back even though the knew nothing about each other.

"Tonks" a voice from the other side called out as the person banged lightly on the door. She began to compose herself taking deep breaths to try and stop her heart from its race. After she was sure that she was composed enough she stood up, straitened her clothes, unlocked and opened the door. There on the other side was a very red and very embarrassed Harry Potter. "Uh look I just wanted to apologize for the way I acted. I have no idea what came over me I simply acted on instinct." he said trying to offer a smile as he scratched the back of his head. She simply nodded to show that she accepted the apology and stepped past him into the room. Minerva had taken the only chair so that left Harry and Tonks forced to sit next to each other on the bed. As they sat down they tried to make sure that there was as much space between them as possible. This of course elicited both Minerva and Grex to chuckle slightly at the display, although only Harry could hear Grex laugh as it was in his head.

"So Professor I believe that you have a tale to tell me about why you are hear." Harry decided to try and deal with the pressing matter in order to hopefully get his mind off of Tonks.

"Yes I do believe that that would be best. You see Mr. Potter Most of the wizarding world believe that you are dead. And by most I mean everyone that is not in this room at the moment. I am simply curious as to how it is that you are not. Not that I am not happy that you are not but... well we all saw your body." Minerva had gotten over the recent comedic events and had turned into her serious Professor mode as many of her students like to call it.

"Well from what I know I was dead. But because of the prophecy and this guy here..." he gestured to the crow that was still sitting on the headboard. "I was able to come back. Not sure how it works or anything I mean I just recently found out why. From what I understand after I died the 'Powers That Be' decided that it was not my time and so they decided to send me a second chance. I woke up buried under six feet of dirt and dug my way out. Well I tried to dig my way out. Luckily Tonks was there to help me out a little bit. Then after seeing me she passed out. I took her here. Again not sure where here is I just somehow knew to come here." at this he looked over at the crow waiting for a response.

_This was a place that was used by me and the last shit head._ Knowing that this would be the best reason that he would get he turned back to Professor McGonagall to see her staring at him oddly.

"The bird can talk to me inside my head." he answered her before she could ask the question. She simply nodded in response whether it was because she believed him or not he didn't know. "Well after she woke up she told me what had happened. Then she got the meeting call and we both took off. I went to Gringotts to see if anything was still there for me. Apparently they somehow knew that I wasn't dead or that my magic was here. Something like that because the next thing I knew I was becoming the head of both the Potter and the Black families. Given a huge folder on all the stuff I own and my wand." he pointed to the folder on the table next to the bed. "Then I come back here Hedwig shows up the bird starts talking to me telling me that it is my guide and is going to train me." and with that he huffed and looked at the Professor waiting to see if she believed him or if she shipped him off to St. Mungos to join Lockhart.

"Right."it was all that she was capable of saying at the moment. Everything that he had said seemed far too outrageous to be made up. The way that he had explained it made it seem like the most obvious thing in the world though for the death of her she couldn't figure out how. They sat there in silence as they all digested what had just been said. "Well what do you plan to do now that you are back. I believe that I heard you say something about being trained." she asked finally breaking the silence that seemed to deafen all of them.

"Yeah I plan on going into hiding at one of my estates and training until I can control my magic and whatever gifts this guy can give me." once again he made a gesture to the bird on the headboard. "Oh and he said that I should bring Tonks with me cause there are somethings that he will have trouble teaching me by himself." At hearing her name Tonks jerked her head towards Harry to stare at him as if he had just grown a second head. "I mean if that is alright with you Tonks." he asked nervously noticing the look that she was giving him.

'Well you wanted a chance to get to know him better and here it is. Just think the two of you together for and unknown period of time.' she thought to herself . She knew that she was going to go. But Harry didn't. Just then an evil thought entered her mind. She just had to see what she could get out of him.

"I don't know Harry I mean I have duties that need to be done." she smirked inwardly as she saw the look on his face. Nope he definitely didn't know that she would have gone with him in an instant. "I might be able to convince The headmistress here to let me get out of my Order work but it will be mighty hard to get out of my duties as an auror." she had to turn away from him slightly so that he couldn't see the look on her face. A look that would have blown her cover for sure.

"Please Tonks I will do whatever you tell me to do without question." he wasn't sure what it was that he was saying until it was too late. Just then he heard Grex laugh inside of his head. 'I just made a huge mistake didn't I?' he asked his new teacher.

_A massive one. She played you like a piano. Fell for it hook line an sinker. I was right you are as stupid as you look. Yup definitely the dullest._

'Alright I get it. I screwed up you don't have to rip into me so bloody hard' once again the bird began to laugh inside his head.

"Anything eh?" she turned to look at him both realizing the mess that he had gotten himself into. She grinned at him. Having quite enjoyed the display the headmistress decided that she deliver some more bad news to Harry.

"Harry there is one more thing that I need to tell you. After you died Albus... lost himself. He decided that he had to act on the prophecy and fast. Since you were dead the prophecy obviously couldn't have been about you. So he decided to train Neville." she studied him carefully. She knew full well that at the time of his death Harry and Albus were not seeing eye to on anything. She wondered how he would take to hearing that the former headmaster had lost his marbles.

"So you mean he snapped and locked himself away with Neville." a grin appeared on Harry's face knowing full well that what Minerva had implied. "What does this have to do with me. He obviously didn't care enough about me to guard me from my own family. Only ever wanted me as his own personal weapon. I say good on him Gets what he deserves. Well I guess that he deserves much worse but hey can't have everything you want now can you." the malice contained in the words was enough to convince the Headmistress that whatever bond the two had grown over the years was shattered. She couldn't blame harry for it either. She knew what the full story was. The headmaster had taken it upon himself to reveal exactly what he knew of Harry's home life. Which was everything. To say that she was disgusted was an understatement. It took everything that she had not to hex him where he stood.

"I see Mr. Potter. One last thing. What do you plan on doing about your friends. I believe that Hermione at the very least would be happy to hear that you are alright. Wish I could say the same for Young Ronald but since your absence he has taken a shining to the spotlight. I daresay he is happier now that you are gone much to my and Ms. Granger's disappointment."

"Yeah I kinda figured that Ron only hung out with me for my fame. Realized that during the whole Triwizard tournament fiasco. Once again not surprised. Though maybe you could tell Hermione the truth. Maybe even try and see if she would be able to visit after I get settled in at my new home. Unfortunately I will not be able to return to Hogwarts. Too many eyes to see me. I think it best if fewer people knew that I was still alive."

"I see well Mr. Potter you know how to get in touch with me. I believe that I will tell Ms. Granger that you are alright. After you get settled of course. Though I would suggest that you make it fast I believe that she is going to discover the truth otherwise." she gave Harry a stern glance telling him to make it as fast as he possibly could. "Well if there is nothing else I believe that I shall be on my way." and with that she apparated back to Hogsmede.

This of course left Harry and Tonks alone in the room. Both of them instantly remembered the events that had transpired not twenty minutes earlier. They both made to get up at the same time harry reaching to for the folder on the table and Tonks seating herself in the now vacant chair.

"So Harry where to?" she asked.

"Thought that you weren't sure if you were able to come." Harry asked a smirk coming to his face instantly.

"Well it will take a little negotiating but I should be able to manage." she said hoping that she could cover up her eagerness to spend more time alone with the young man.

"Oh well happy that you could find it in you busy schedule to help a nobody like me." he smiled as he noticed a faint blush on her cheeks. Though he knew that with her powers she could hide most small blushes so even the small ones were truly huge blushes. Deciding to take pity on here he opened the folder and started flipping through the pages until he found a list of all his homes, estates, or castles. It was a rather long list with almost fifty different places all of them promising to be huge mansions rather then a normal house. Finally he decided that for once he was going to live in complete comfort. He pulled out the page and handed it to Tonks.

"I was thinking this one." he smiled as he saw her jaw drop into her lap much like he had earlier.

AN

Well another Successful chapter if I do say so myself. I would like to apologize on how long it has taken me to write it. But I had to spend all of my holidays away from my computer. Hope you enjoy. Don't forget to review. Oh and yeah I had to get in a bit of Ron bashing as well. It is one of my favorite sports XD


	7. Chapter 6 Training

"So Tonks what do you think, would you like to spend some time with me there?" he smiled as she tried to regain her composure. It had to be weird to know that they were going to be spending the next few months in the home of one of the most famous wizards of all time.

"Harry how do you own this place I mean you would... oh my god. Are you trying to tell me that you are a descendant of THE Godric Gryffindor?" she asked as her mind finally wrapped around the information that she had been given.

"Yup turns out the Potters are descendants of Godric himself. Something to do with him having only one daughter and her marrying into my family. Even offered to change our last name to Gryffindor in case he wanted an heir. He said no and here we are." his smiled only deepened as he noticed the look that Tonks was now sporting. It was as if her brain had shut down in mid thought. Of course he began to worry when after a couple of minutes she hadn't so much as blinked. Fearing the worst he walked over and waved his hand in front of her face trying to snap her out of her stupor. When that didn't work he grabbed her shoulders and lightly shook her. Now he was getting desperate, she was simply staring at him and it was beginning to creep him out a little. Deciding that he could not possibly make the situation any worse, nor could he embarrass himself anymore he decided to pull out the big guns. Keeping his hands firmly on her shoulders he leaned in and placed a gentle kiss on her lips. Unfortunately the room was carpeted and he had never stuck around long enough to learn of static electricity in muggle school. The results were that as soon as their lips met there was an instant spark. Luckily it did the job and Tonks blinked a few times. Unfortunately it had the adverse affect of making her get a little light headed and subsequently faint.

It was all that Harry could do to keep her from falling to the floor as she slumped forward. "Guess that she couldn't handle all the excitement." he said to no one in particular. Though he knew that there had to be another meaning behind her awkward behavior. Placing a hand on her back and looping one around her legs he gently lifted her back onto the bed where she could get a little sleep. Then taking a look at the clock on the wall he realized that he needed to set up transportation to his new home, the Gryffindor Estate. Deciding that the only beings that he could trust were the goblins he quickly apparated to Gringotts. After obtaining a portkey and a few house elves to ensure that the estate stayed in tip top condition he apparated back to the apartment. Knowing that it would be best for to wait until Tonks awoke before trying to portkey he decided to once again go over his bank statements.

…

It had taken Tonks three hours to wake up and when she did she woke to see Harry sitting in the chair that he had pulled to the opposite side of the room. In front of him was a table, that he had obviously conjured with a mess of papers on the top of it. She slowly swung her feet off the bed and made her way over to Harry who was engrossed in what looked to her as a bank statement outlining property of some sort. As she leaned over his shoulder she read that it indeed outlined property. More specifically it outlined the contents of his many vaults.

"Well Tonks are you ready to go?" he asked without looking up from the paper. She nodded in response and when he didn't respond she realized that he was waiting for her to respond.

"Uh yeah lets go. But... how are we going to get there?" she asked as he stood up. He walked over to the table beside the bed and picked up his wand. After gathering up all the parchments with a gentle flick of his wand he picked up another object that she hadn't noticed until now. It was a pen. He held it out as the crow that was still sitting on the headboard flew over and landed on his shoulder. Knowing what the object was she walked over and placed a single finger on it. She hated what came next as something hooked behind her navel and the ground was removed from beneath her feet. Only this time it was different. Instead of the normal feeling of the ground ripped from under her it was almost as if she was lifted off of it gently. 'Must be goblin made' she thought. She had heard that the goblins were the best at everything that they did but this was unreal. She was even more surprised when she landed. Instead of the usual ankle breaking touchdown her feet were gently placed back on the ground.

"Well that was new." Harry said. She simply nodded in agreement. That was when she looked up and noticed the room that they were in. It was a massive foyer with marble floors, oak walls and two sets of massive doors. In front of her were also two sets of winding staircases, one that went up and one that went down. She stood there dumbfounded not knowing what she should do. The room was even more impressive then anything she had seen at Hogwarts. Just then she heard a slight pop behind her and both she and Harry turned to see five house elves with matching uniforms, the Gryffindor colors standing in a neat line waiting for instructions.

"Okay lets get everything strait. I will need only one of you to work in the kitchen. So whoever is the best at cooking that is you. Three of you will be in charge of cleaning this place up starting with the living quarters and the training rooms. The last one will basically do whatever pops into either my or Tonks mind." he smiled as they all nodded and went about their various tasks. Just then a thought entered his mind and with a single word he stopped all of them. "Right forgot a few things. One I don't believe that we have all been properly introduced. My name is Harry Potter and this is Tonks. She has a first name but if you were to call her by it she would likely kill me. Now what are your names?" he asked the group of startled elves. He assumed that they were not use to being addressed in such an informal and friendly matter. Slowly one by one they stated their name. There was Blub, Freeny, Zorry, Wanny, and Groc. "Alright and lastly I will need one of you to go to Tonks' apartment and collect her stuff and bring it to her new room here." and with that Freeny disappeared. Apparently it looked like he was that one that would do all the miscellaneous things that needed to be done. After he had disappeared he dismissed the others to go about their appointed tasks.

….

Dumbledore watched as his student finally completed the course. It had taken him months of training but now Dumbledore thought that he was truly ready to learn some magic. It was time to teach him what he would need to defeat Voldemort.

"Neville come her my boy." he said. His voice had lost that grandfatherly quality that it use to have a few months prior. Even his eyes had long since lost their shine. "It is time for you to start to learn real magic. I know that this isn't where your strengths lie but you must learn everything that I am to teach you. You must master it. It is up to you now Neville. You are the new savior of the wizarding world. You must be the one avenge all those who we have lost." he had said this all to the boy before. He had said almost everything to the boy but he felt the need to keep telling him.

"I know Professor. It is up to me to avenge Harry, and my parents. I know that they would have been proud to know that I am taking up the cause." he knew that deep down his parents would have been proud of him no matter what he did. This just made it easier to train. Albus however knew that if Neville's mother ever awoke from her catatonic state he would have hell to pay. She herself never wanted to be a fighter and he knew that she would never have allowed him to train her only son to face the evilest creature ever known to man. But it had to be done. For the greater good.

….

It had been a week since they had arrived at the Gryffindor estate. They had since then quickly fallen into a routine. They would wake up in their separate rooms and quickly make their way down for breakfast (Harry found that he indeed had to eat if he wanted to be able to cast spells) then they would proceed to one of the training halls for physical training. Harry had somewhere along the line picked up a skill for the martial arts. After talking to Grex he discovered that it was simply something that all Crows would get. He also discovered that he had an affinity for darker spells. He simply chalked this up to the fact that he had died. After the physical training, where he not only trained his body but also tried to depart some of his martial art skills to Tonks they would head to the expansive library. Here Harry would try to pack as much knowledge into his head as possible. First he learned all the he could about Occulmency. This was made easier by the fact that he now had extra help to sort his mind. Even though that help often made rude comments about his few female friends. When he finally had his mind sorted he found that it was much easier to adapt Snape's training when it came to Occulmency. He cleared his mind and started to build up his defenses. By now he was able to stop Grex from reading his thoughts like they were an open book, something that he very grateful for. While he was doing this Tonks would be spending her time looking up spells that he should probably learn. Next in the day came lunch which was usually spent in the library cramming as much as they could. Although she didn't look it Tonks was amazing when it came to organizing and studying. Directly after lunch it was time for the duo and Grex to go to another more specialized training area. This one was used specifically for dueling. Now it was time to learn what Grex called real magic. While the bird was happy to let Harry and Tonks learn as many spell as they wanted he refused to call it magic. He insisted that it was a bastardized version of what he would teach them.

"Alright you to remember what I told you. Magic is all about intent. You have to be able to feel the flow of magic not only inside yourself but also all around you. Eventually when you master being able to call upon your own magic you will be able to start calling upon the natural magic that surrounds every bit of matter." Grex was sitting on a single metal rod that was suspended from the roof. The rod was bent into an 'L' shape in order to give the bird a perch.

"You keep saying this but it doesn't make it any easier." a frustrated Tonks said from her position on top of a pillow. Both she and Harry had been meditating in this same room every day since they had gotten there. The first day Grex had told them what true magic was. True magic was when a witch or wizard would be able to call upon their magic in order to bend it to do whatever they wanted. They didn't need wands, incantations, or movements. All that they needed was willpower. Both of the two had all the willpower needed in order to pull this off but what they didn't have was the control over their magic to do so properly. As Grex had explained it because they had relied on their wands to do all their magic it would take time to gain the proper control necessary to cast wandlessly.

"I keep saying it cause it is true. I have told you everything that I could to try and get you to understand how to do it. Now it is up to you. Hell who knows maybe the way I did it wont work for you. Maybe you should try and visualize it differently." Grex had become irritated that they had not grasped this concept yet.

"What the hell are you talking about. You mean to tell me that there is more then one way to do this. What the hell is wrong with you you stupid canary." Tonks screamed at the irritating bird. Since Grex had started talking aloud he had done everything possible to piss the young metamorph off. Needless to say it had worked.

"Tonks you need to calm down. I am sure that he simply forgot to mention the fact that there is more then one way to do this." Harry had of course thought of this idea quite a while ago. As Grex had explained it magic had always felt like an immovable force. So he had visualized it as a mountain. This was of course not how Harry felt about magic. To him it was a beautiful yet dangerous force. He had recently started trying to visualize his magic as a roaring fire. He was beginning to feel it but even still it felt wrong. To him it felt like there was something missing. He had started to talk about it with Grex. He had told Harry that this was normal and that one day he would find whatever was missing. Grex had also told him that he had sufficient control on his magic that he could start to learn true magic from him. Of course Harry had opted to wait until Tonks also had control over her magic so for now he was simply working on fine tuning his control. He now knew not only the size of his fire but also the color and the heat. Or at least that is what it felt like to him. This simply meant that he probably had mastery over his magic.

"Fine then what does it feel like for you." she had gotten the hint that Harry also knew this little trick. She was a little mad that he hadn't told her but now that she looked back it seemed so obvious that she didn't want to make herself seem worse off in his eyes.

"Well for me it feels like a roaring fire. It feels both beautiful and dangerous at the same time."

"I don't think that either of those will work for me."

"Well try this when you cast a spell that takes a lot of magic how do you feel."

"It's kinda like I am floating. I know that there is something around me but I can't make it out." As she said this Grex started laughing. She knew that he was laughing at her and it took all of her control not to draw her wand and Hex the stupid bird. "And what might I ask is so funny?" she asked a dangerous edge to her voice.

"Well it sounds to me like you are describing water. You know you float in it but it still wraps around you like a blanket." Harry decided that it would be best to explain it to her himself rather then let the bird make her even madder.

"Well that kinda makes sense. Alright let me try something." Tonks started to visualize herself floating in a pool of her own magic. She continued to meditate and soon she felt it. She began to see her magic. It looked like a Pond or maybe a small lake. She couldn't make out the color or how deep it was but she knew that this was her magic. "I can feel it. This is so cool." she was pleased that she had finally felt her magic. She knew that Harry was waiting for her from the way that he described his own magic.

"Great now we can actually begin to train." And so it began. The three of them quickly settled into a new routine. It would take a while before they would have sufficient control over their new magic and until then they would simply continue to train and learn all that they could.

AN

Okay I would first like to apologize for the long wait for the new update. I won't give you a n excuse. Please Review I love them all. Also I am starting a new series called the House Elf Chronicles. It will simply be a series of oneshots on the destruction of Volde. Also if you all be so kind as to look at my profile and Vote on the poll it would be helpful (as it effects this story directly). Thanks.


	8. Chapter 7 Twins and Even More Plans

It had been three months since they had started training but even so their control had shot through the roof. They were now capable of pulling out their magic and forcing it to do their will. Though for now it was only basic things that they could do they both agreed that it could only be helpful if they were ever captured. Not many would expect someone to shoot flames without the use of a wand.

This of course was not the only thing that they were learning. They were also learning as many spells as they possibly could. Harry had come up with the ingenious idea of combining the two branches of magic to create something completely new. They were now able to cast normal spells wandlessly. While most powerful witches and wizards were indeed able to do this most were not able to do it at the level that Harry or even Tonks could. Also the tax on their reserves would be a lot greater then Harry or Tonks. They also spent a lot of time learning battle strategy and planning. Grex had managed to convince Harry that a battle fought on his field with all of his traps would be a lot easier then one played by his enemy.

But while they were in the safety of the Gryffindor Estate the rest of the world was not so safe. This is why they had decided to leave the safety of the Estate and venture out to hopefully stop an attack. So after gearing up (They had both discovered an affinity for a non magical weapon once again on the orders of Grex.) they donned their disguises and were off.

…

Draco Malfoy had always acted the proper pureblood. He had hated the muggleborns. He had thought that he was better then everyone. But he knew that this was all a lie. He was doing all this cause it was what his father had expected of him. But now his father was in prison. The Dark Lord had not deemed it worthy to break him out yet. Or at least that was what Snape had told him. He was back at Hogwarts but he was no longer his usual arrogant self. Instead he was really seeing things for the first time. He saw just how smart some muggleborns were, mainly he saw how smart Hermione Granger was. He saw the potential in all of them. They were powerful. They had numbers, numbers that he could use to help himself. Of course that would mean that he would have to defy the dark lord and that was not something that he was going to take lightly. If he was going to put his plans into action he would need someone powerful on his side. He was not even going to try and lie to himself, saying since he was a Malfoy and the Dark Lord was a lowly halfblood (He had known he was a halfblood for a long time.) No he would need someone powerful in his corner. Although that meant that he would not be the leader which in his mind was perfect. Malfoys were not leaders. They were advisors. They came up with the plans. They knew how to manipulate people into doing what they wanted. It was a shame that Potter was dead. He would have been easy to manipulate. All he had to do was tell him the truth. That he wanted power and that he thought that the muggleborns were an underrated force. With a little finesse he could easily change the government. Giving the non-purebloods a place in it. And they would be so grateful that they would do whatever he wanted.

"Excuse me." He was interrupted from his thoughts by one of the many underrated powers of Hogwarts Hermione. After having opened his eyes he had realized that she was indeed an amazing witch. She was smart and powerful, there was no denying that. She also had a hidden beauty. This thought had scared him at first. That he could possibly find her at all attractive was a horrifying thought. At least it was at first. But as he began to spend less time with Crabbe and Goyle and more time in the Library studying for what was to come he had a lot of time to observe her. Now he could see it. She was indeed beautiful in her own way. It was all there. The figure, the face, the hair, she had it all. She simply chose to hide it.

"Excuse me." Once again he was taken away from his thoughts, though this time a little more forcefully.

"What do you want Granger." he replied with his usual sneer in place.

"I wanted to know if you were done with that." she replied pointing to the book in his hands. It was an advance potion book that was needed for the potion that Snape had assigned. There were few people in the class as only the best were allowed in.

"I doubt that you would be able to handle making anything in here. It was sheer luck and stupidity that even allowed you to get into the class to begin with." He knew that he should probably be a little nicer to her. Especially since she was going to be a huge player in his upcoming plans but he couldn't resist the chance to get in a few cheap shots.

"I will have you know that I scored the second highest on the potions O.W.L. Second only to you. Though I am sure that your fathers money had nothing to do with that." She smirked and crossed her arms knowing that it would get to him. It worked of course. Draco's carefully crafted smirk turned into a scowl but he was able to stop himself from saying the scathing remark that had popped into his head magically. He thought for a brief moment how to turn this into a beneficial moment. Quickly he came up with a plan.

"For your information my father has never once helped me increase my marks. All of my marks are cause I work hard for them." he smiled inside when he saw the look of disbelief on her face. "If you don't believe me then here look at my notes." and with that he handed her his notebook and walked away.

Hermione stood there looking at the place that Malfoy had been sitting moments earlier. She was replaying the conversation over and over in her head. Something didn't add up to her. Where was the scathing remarks about her heritage. Or the remarks about her dead friend. Compared to what she was use to from Malfoy she almost believed that what she had just witnessed was a polite Malfoy. But that was impossible... wasn't it? Then she glanced down at the notebook that he had handed to her. She opened it and noticed that everything was well thought and honestly she had to admit that Malfoy was indeed smart. Unfortunately this did nothing to help her. With her mind in shambles she left the library completely forgetting the Potions book that she had come for.

….

Harry and Tonks had decided to hang out at some of the less known magical places of Britain. Currently they were in a town known as Dunnington. Apparently from what Tonks had told him Hagg lane was the gateway to the Magical part of the town. They had apparated silently into the quaint magical village. Everyone was happy but cautious. Both Harry and Tonks had taken care to hide all their weapons before they had apparated and were currently disguised as a happy couple walking around town. They watched a couple of kids too young to go to Hogwarts playing in the snow as they stopped at a small coffee shop. Just then two Aurors walked past them. Harry and Tonks nodded at each other and got up to follow them as discreetly as they could. No one noticed them. They listened in to all the conversations around them hoping to learn something that wasn't in the paper. They had been out of the world for three months with only the papers to tell them what was happening. Apparently the attacks had slowed down a tad and while everyone else was happy for it Harry and Tonks both knew that it was simply the quiet before the storm.

The two soon realized that nothing was going to happen today and decided that while they were out they should at least try and have some fun. Over the past three months the two had slowly grown closer to each other. They were nowhere near being a couple but they were close. They admitted to themselves that they liked the other and knew that the other liked them but were still afraid to admit it out loud. So with that in mind they headed to Diagon Alley to see what fun they could have.

….

Fred and George Weasley were happy. They knew something that no one else did. They knew how Gringotts worked. When they had left school to start up their store they had both promised the other one thing. That a third of their profits would go to Harry. So as soon as they had started to prepare for the shop they had gone to Gringotts and made it so that a third of their monthly revenue was automatically transferred to their adoptive brothers account. After he had died they had completely forgotten about it. Then one month Fred, the more mathematically inclined of the two had noticed something in the books. The money was still going into his account. Normally this would not have been strange even with Harry being dead. What was strange was that there was no one to have the account. It should have been frozen. All the money that was being transferred into the account should have been sent back because there was no account holders. Harry had never written a will and there was no one related to him even distantly to inherit it. This meant that either the bank was making a mistake, someone had somehow gotten a hold of his account, or that Harry Potter was still alive. They knew that it was a long shot and didn't want to get anyones hope up. They also knew that it was possibly a plan set up by Harry himself so they didn't tell anyone about this. They simply hoped that if he was still alive he would be happy where ever he was.

It was then that the door to their shop opened and a couple walked in. They knew instantly that they were no normal couple. The woman was walking with an air of grace and confidence that only came from being a warrior and the man was radiating power.

"Can we help you two." one of the twins asked as the couple approached the counter. He was placing himself in front of his brother in case the two were hostile. He would be the distraction while the other went and got help.

"Yes I am wondering how it was that you two were able to afford this place. Obviously you have to have a partner of some sorts. And a rather smart one at that. I mean he would have to be a genius to have funded a joke shop in times like these." the man stated. George, the one who had put himself in front looked closely at the pair. They looked familiar, he knew that he knew them but didn't know from where. It was possible that they went to Hogwarts with each other though separated by a few years. It was then that he noticed that the womans eyes were subtly changing colors.

"Well if it isn't our dear friend Tonks. We haven't seen you in a while. Where have you been." he asked as his brother joined him. If Tonks was here then it was highly likely that the other was a new partner from the MLE.

"Oh I have been out training. I decided that being an auror was not for me so I left. Ran into an old friend and we decided to go off and train together." she said. Inside she was laughing like a mad woman. They had decided sometime during the three months that she and Harry had spent together that they should recruit the twins into their little club. They were amazingly smart and if pushed in the right directions could use their evil minds to develop weapons for the light.

"Oh really anyone we know." Fred said. He had a hunch who was the man was though didn't want to say it out front. "Hey we discovered something weird going on." he said before she could answer.

"Yeah we did. You see when we started the shop we had set it up with the bank that a third of our profits would go to our dearly departed friend Harry. He was the one that backed us and all." George of course had come to the same conclusion that his brilliant brother had.

"After he had died we had forgotten all about it."

"At least until Fred here noticed a discrepancy in the books."

"Yes it was then that we discovered that even though he was dead his accounts were still active."

"Normally we wouldn't have cared."

"Except for the fact that Harry had no relatives nor did he leave a will."

"We think that someone has somehow gotten their hands on his account."

"Yes and we were suspecting that it was death eaters."

"You wouldn't happen to have heard anything about this would you Tonks."

Both Harry and Tonks knew that they had been caught so with a silent motion they jumped into action. Harry sent dual stunner's at the twins while Tonks magically locked the doors and placed a silencing ward around the shop. After switching the sign to closed they grabbed a portkey and were off to Godric's Estate.

….

"Well Lucius how are the plans coming along." The voice was gravely and full of hatred. It was perfect for the man that it came from, though not many would ever dare call him a man. Lord Voldemort was nothing more then an animal to most people, and extremely dangerous and deadly animal. He sat on his throne and stared out at his gathered minions his eyes finally settling in on the one kneeling before him.

"Good my lord. We are prepared to move whenever you wish." He dared not raise his head. He knew that this was his last chance, if he failed here his life was forfeit. But at this point in time he was confident that things would not fail. While the target was strong and well protected the old fool had let down his guard.

"Good be prepared to move at a moments notice." he smiled his blood chilling smile. "You have done such a good job that I think that you deserve a reward. What do you think Lucius." he asked.

"I am but a humble servant my lord. Whatever you wish to do I shall be happy with." He wasn't going to fall for that one again. He knew his place now, though at first he had deluded himself into believing that he was important.

"Good answer." Voldemort paused to think for a second as if wondering whether he should even let the man live. "Yes I do believe that you should be rewarded." He raised his wand and pointed it at the senior Malfoy. "Crucio." A jet of black magic erupted from his wand and struck the Lucius in the back. He collapsed from his kneeling position screaming. "Do not forget Malfoy that this is the last chance that I shall give you. If you fail you will die. Be happy that I haven't killed you by now." he said as he lifted the curse.

"Thank you my lord. I am eternally grateful." and with that the death eaters left leaving their lord alone to think.

"Soon. Soon everything shall be mine. With that Potter brat out of the way there is nothing that can stop me." he cackled an evil grin spreading onto his once handsome face.

AN

I would like to apologize for how long it has taken me to update. Unfortunately my inspiration for this story left... as it did for most of my writing. I actually had to force it back into its box and lock it there. It is currently in a safe being guarded by 4 vicious Chiwawa's XD. Please Review.


	9. Chapter 8 Smirks and Preparations

Fred and George had been in a lot of trouble throughout their lives. Most of which they had caused themselves but that was beside the point. At this point though they had to admit that the trouble that had made its way into their path was somewhat surprising. Harry and Tonks had just finished explaining what had happened. It sounded like something out of a Muggle storybook. It was so exciting.

"So lets get this strait you..." Fred started

"...Want us to help you..." George continued.

"...Overthrow the Ministry of Magic." they both finished together. Although the words themselves were serious the smile on their lips told Harry and Tonks that they were already planning how to do it.

"Yeah pretty much." Harry looked at Tonks who nodded back at him. Currently they were one of the many cozy sitting rooms at Godric's Estate. The elves had made them an assortment of snacks to eat while they puzzled over the prospect. What they were proposing was to have Fred and George attempt to get the minister of magic fired and replaced by someone like Amelia Bones. It was a good plan to be sure but the problem was the actual planning. It could take months to accomplish this task and that was without the interference that they would surely run into.

"Well we shall think about it." Fred stated all joking put off for the moment. "Now on to more important business. What are you going to do Harry. I mean you were brought back to life by a bird. You can't exactly go out and announce to the world that you are back."

"Yeah I know. I have actually put some thought into this and have decided to become a masked hero of some sorts. I mean you're right I can't walk into the middle of Diagon Alley as Harry Potter. I need a new persona and luckily I have it." The twins and Tonks looked at him as if he had grown a third head.

"Really and what would that be" Tonks asked having never really discussed this with him.

"I was thinking that I could come back as Lord Gryffindor. Not many know that Godric had a daughter and fewer still know who it was that she married. I was thinking that people would readily agree to follow Lord Gryffindor against Lord Slytherin." Tonks smiled at Harry as he finished while the twins were currently holding the others chin from dragging along the floor.

"Are you trying to tell us th at you are a descendant of Godric Gryffindor.?" asked Fred while George started imitating a fish.

"I was just as surprised as you are. I think that the goblins get some sort of sick kick out of springing this type of stuff on us humans." Harry said with a smile. It was then that they got back to business and continued planning how to overthrow the Minister.

… …

Hermione had been wandering around for the last few hours trying to figure out everything that was happening. First there was the whole mess with Hedwig and the possibility that Harry was still alive, she still hadn't given up on the chance that he would come back. It would be just the thing that Harry would do to. Then there was Tonk's disappearance. While no one suspected Voldemort many were still worried where she had gone, well except for the Headmistress. Now there was the whole deal with Malfoy. He had to be up to something but no matter how hard she tried she just couldn't figure out what was. It was almost as if everything that she knew about him was a lie. But that couldn't be it... could it?

"Figure it out yet Granger?"a voice came from behind her. Startled she jumped and whipped her wand around to bear at the speaker. It was Malfoy.

"I don't know what you are talking about." she lied. There was no way that he could know that she was thinking about him.

"What I am up to. I know that you have been walking around thinking about me. I know this because I have been following you. At first I was discreet about it. Then I realized that a Hippogryph could stampede past you and you would barely bat an eyelash." Draco stated while he stepped closer to her. When he was right in front of her he stopped and smirked. Except this was different then what she was use to. It wasn't the usual 'I'm better then you' smirk that he use to have. This was the type of smirk that she had seen on someone else. Someone close. Harry. He was smirking like Harry use to smirk. It was then that she noticed how close he had gotten to her. He was but a couple feet away from her. He was so close that she could almost feel his breath on her face. Suddenly against her will her cheeks flushed and she knew that she had to get away from him. Without bothering to excuse herself she turned around and dashed away leaving a smirking Draco Malfoy behind her.

She ran for what seemed like hours but was probably closer to a couple minutes. Then she found her safety. The washroom was abandoned which suited her just fine. She settled herself into one of the stalls and started to give herself a mental thrashing. She was cursing herself for allowing Malfoy to get so close. He had to have cursed her somehow. There was no way that she would ever blush because of him. She hoped that this was true but knew that it was a lie. She was sure that she would have known if he had cursed her in any way. But that only left one other reason. That somehow she found him... attractive. She shuddered at the thought.

… …

Hermione spent the next few days trying to avoid Draco. Unfortunately that was rather hard seeing as they had all the same classes together. She would look over to see him giving her that same smirk. She was simply happy that Ron wasn't talking to her or else she was afraid he would call her a traitor and attack Draco. Why she was worried about him attacking Draco was beyond her. She was starting to believe that the whole mess with Harry was affecting her mentally, well more then it normally did. She had to get out and luckily that weekend was a hogsmeade weekend, she should be able to escape everything for at least a day. She had been assigned a patrol duty to keep all the students in check and to watch out for any attacks. She new that hogsmeade was not the most secure of places and attacking children would make a statement. Soon it would be time for her to leave.

… …

Hermione wasn't the only ones that were worried about the safety of the students. While the ministry insisted that they would be safe they still sent a half dozen Aurors to act as a deterrent thinking that the numbers would scare anyone away. Harry and Tonks on the other hand knew what they were dealing with. They had decided to go there early and scope the place out. They found that some of the 'darker' residents were noticeably missing. They soon realized that an attack was planned but could do nothing to warn anyone. At least not if they wanted to keep themselves secret. Instead they prepared them selves for the fight that was to come.

… …

Draco was worried. Like most others he knew that there was going to be an attack. What no one else knew was that the reason for the attack was not just to instill fear into the hearts of others. There was an ulterior motive. Him. He had refused the Dark Lord and had barely made it to the train without being caught. He knew that his time was numbered. He also knew that there was no use in trying to put it off. He had to face his father and prove to everyone that he was a better sort of Malfoy. Not only would it be good for his self esteem it would also be good for his public image and thusly his plans. The only problem was that he still had no one powerful enough on his side to stand against the Dark Lord of Albus Dumbledore. He would have to work on that.

… …

Albus Dumbledore was happy with the progress that his student had made. He was now able to stand on his own in battle. He was still nowheres near his level but he was rising in skill much faster then he had ever seen before. With that thought in mind he had decided that it was time for a little test. It was time for his student to get some real combat experience under his belt. He had been keeping in touch with Minerva and knew of the hogsmeade weekend. Like everyone else he was certain that something would come of it. It was time to send his newest weapon into battle.

… …

"Malfoy." the voice was cold, not that anyone expected it not to be. "Is everyone in place?"

"Yes my Lord. Everything is going to go according to planned." the elder Malfoy replied.

"Good. It is time for your son to pay for defying my will. It is a shame to lose such pure blood, but it will let everyone know that no one is above my wrath. How is your wife. Has she finally come around to our side and realized that her son is a traitor?"

"Yes my Lord she accepts it and knows what she needs to do."

"Good." Voldemort glared at the wall. He knew that what he was planning was a little much for one boy. He could just have easily told one of his spies in to school to kill him. But the way that the boy had looked at him when he refused to take the mark infuriated him. It was the same look the Potter boy had given him at the Ministry. He would pay for that. He would make sure of that himself. "Leave me." he didn't address anyone in particular but everyone knew what he meant. He was planning oversee this plan himself. He was preparing for what was to come. No doubt the old man would be there and if he was then Voldemort would have to be on the top of his game.


	10. Chapter 9 The Battle Part One

Laughter filled the air as the students ran from shop to shop, buying everything in sight. To them there was no war, it was like nothing could touch them right now. They would soon learn just how wrong they were. The Dark Lord lord and his servants were waiting just on the outskirts of the wards to hogsmeade. They all knew what they had to do; cause as much mayhem as possible, and then get the hell out of there. The children weren't really their targets, it was everything else. Their mission was to destroy the wizarding community. The fact that they were doing it during a hogsmeade weekend was an added bonus. Some of the death eaters had children who were still in Hogwarts. Though that didn't mean that they couldn't have fun with the mudbloods that infested the school. And soon they would get their chance.

"Go." and with that single word from the Dark Lord the world erupted into chaos.

… …

Hermione's day had started off like any other. After she had woken she got ready for the day, taking time to think about what was happening with her life. Things like Harry and her situation with Malfoy were foremost in her mind. After this she headed down for breakfast, where she would met up with Ginny. Today though instead of going to the library afterwards she headed to a meeting room on the first floor reserved for the prefects. They were going over safety precautions and what to do in case something happened. She didn't need to listen, she had written the whole thing herself. After they were done they all headed down to hogsmeade early in order scout the area and see if anything was out of place. They all had medallions created by the ministry that would allow them to contact the Aurors. When the scan was finished they sent word back to the castle, allowing the other students to come.

She had been patrolling for a half hour when it happened. Death Eaters came storming from one of the side streets that lead into a forest. It didn't appear that they were targeting the students though that didn't mean that some didn't get hurt anyways.

"Confringo." Hermione screamed at a Death Eater that was bearing down on a group of third year girls. The Death Eaters meager shield that he had managed to conjure was ripped apart quickly followed by his arm. Hermione had to fight the bile that was threating to rise at what she had just done. After she had lost Harry, she had come to terms with the fact that if the Death Eaters were not put down then they would simply come back. She still didn't like the idea of killing them, but if she could remove a limb or two it was mostly alright with her.

"Diffindo." She heard the spell coming but didn't have time to dodge or block. All she could do was stare at the caster. It was Draco. She closed her eyes waiting for the spell to hit her. But it never did. Opening her eyes she spotted a Death Eater lying on the ground a few feet away from her. His throat was sliced open.

"You okay Granger?" Draco asked while he checked on the fallen Death Eater. She didn't respond instead she simply stared at him. She had just seen Draco Malfoy attack and kill a Death Eater. She watched as he cast a spell to confirm that the Death Eater was dead.

"You saved me." she stated stupidly.

"Yes I did. Now are you okay, are you hurt?" he asked again this time moving closer to her. As he got closer he saw her eyes widen and turned just in time to see a spell flying at them. Not knowing what else to do he threw himself in front of the spell, hoping to save Hermione. He waited for the spell to connect but it never did. Opening his eyes he saw a golden shield in front of him. On the other side of the shield was the corpse of the Death Eater that had cast the spell at him. From the looks of it the spell had bounced of the shield and killed the caster.

"Are you two alright." the voice came from a figure dressed in red robes with gold lining. He was facing away from the two of them, giving them the perfect view of the crest on his back. It was the Gryffindor crest.

"You saved me." It was now Draco's turn to be grateful. Unfortunately it didn't last long as he soon had to help Hermione fight of spells coming at them from a group of three death eaters. Lord Gryffindor as Draco had decided he had to be was facing the opposite direction fighting off no less then five Death Eaters. Though he had to focus on the three in front of him he still looked back to see how his Saviour was doing. It was a frightening thing that he saw. Where there was once five Death eaters there were now only two and it looked like he was toying with them. He didn't even have his wand drawn. He was using pure wandless magic to defeat his enemies.

In minutes all the Death eaters that were attacking were now on the ground either dead or on the verge of death.

"No time to rest. There is still more fighting going on." And with that he disappeared right before their eyes.

"Did you see the crest on his back." Hermione asked as soon as she realized that the immediate threat was gone.

"Yeah." Draco replied in a rather subdued voice as he contemplated his chances of making him an ally.

… …

Meanwhile on the other end of town Dumbledore and Neville were battling multiple Death Eaters as well. Most were made easy work of as they were no match for Dumbledore. Neville himself had taken out four without breaking a sweat.

"Good work Neville." Dumbledore stated after watching Neville take out another Death Eater with a non-lethal spell. Just then he spotted someone that he had hoped would not show up. "Hello Tom." The older man stated calmly sending the last three Death Eaters into blissful unconsciousness. "I was hoping that you would not be here today. I guess that it was too much to ask for. Shall we continue where we left off at the ministry." and with that he launched a volley of spells at his eternal nemesis while at the same time sending Neville to the other side of the street with a wandless banisher.

"I was hoping to finally finish you off Albus. You have been a thorn in my side for far too long." Voldemort said as he conjured a shield to block the onslaught. The rest of the Death Eaters new better than to stay within the battle zone and instead headed off to complete their ulterior plan.

… …

Tonks was no stranger to battle. Even though she had only been a Auror for a few years, she had been part of one of the most experienced groups of them all. This had given her plenty of time to get accustomed to it. It helped as her battle honed reflexes kicked in in time to dodge a spell that was heading towards her. She and Harry had split up as soon as they arrived that morning. It had been easy for both of them to avoid the Prefects patrolling the area. They had agreed that she would patrol the heavily populated area's so that when the attack began she would be able to help evacuate the students. Harry on the other hand would be patrolling the area's that would give the Death Eaters entrance to the village.

"Deprimo." the spell left her wand and smashed into the Death Eaters chest leaving a large hole where his heart should have been.

"Heartless bastards." she heard a student say from behind the cover that they had found. The Death Eaters had stormed into the area without notice and had blocked off the only route out.

Smirking she looked to where the rest of the Death Eaters where holed up behind what use to be a door but had been transformed into a crude stone wall. "Expulso" once again the desired effect destroying the barrier and driving stone shards into all Death Eaters hiding behind it. "Alright you kids the path is clear start making your way back to the castle. Keep your heads down and you should be alright." And with that she took off to where she thought the main fighting was taking place. The students realizing that they could do little to help quickly obeyed and made their way to the castle.

… …

Neville had been glad to finally get out of the castle and test himself against real Death Eaters. After Harry had died Dumbledore had told him about the Prophecy. He hadn't believed him when Dumbledore had told him that he was the only person that could defeat Voldemort. Mostly because he did not believe that he could ever be strong enough. Even after all the training he still had his doubts. But they were slowly fading. Facing off against Death Eaters, he started to believe that he could take down Voldemort eventually. It was after he took out his fifth one that he finally saw the monster that he was destined to face. He was startled as Dumbledore banished him to the other side of the street but knew that he was not ready. After righting himself he took off to help get the students back to the safety of the castle.

He had just turned the corner and had to duck back in order to avoid a stray spell. He watched as a cloaked figure obviously a female took out two death eaters by banishing shards of broken glass at them.

"Confringo" Neville shot the spell at a group of Death Eaters that had pinned the cloaked figure into a building. Together they worked to clear the area of all the Death Eaters. After they were all put down he approached the figure. She appeared to be panting as she healed a nasty gash on her shoulder.

"You alright." he asked stopping a few feet away so he didn't startle her.

"Yeah you?" she asked as she checked the Death Eaters to see if any would be a threat. After she deemed them all harmless he bound the ones that were still conscious in heavy ropes. She glanced in the direction that Neville had come from sensing a massive amount of magic coming from that area.

"Voldemort and Dumbledore are over there fighting." Neville stated noticing the direction she was looking. "I hope he will be alright."

"So do I" she stated not meaning Dumbledore. "So do I."

… …

Harry had sensed the attack coming and was already throwing spells as the Death Eaters had emerged from the forest. Knowing that this was but a small portion of Voldemort's army he wasted little time or energy in defeating them by casting multiple Reductors a foot in front of them. The ones that had managed do avoid the explosion were cut down by the mass amount of shrapnel heading their way. He then apparated onto a nearby roof and looked out over the village. He could see spell fire all over the place, but the brightest was near the other side of town. He guessed that this would be where the most powerful Death Eaters would be so decided that he would be most helpful there. Just as he was about to apparate there he noticed spell fire in the street next to him. Looking down he saw one of the last things that he wanted to see. Hermione had just downed a Death Eater and was watching as a group of students took off when Draco Malfoy cast a spell at her. Just as he was about to react he noticed that the spell would harmlessly fly past her. Looking in the direction it was heading he saw the Death Eater raising his wand about to strike down his friend when the spell connected, slicing his throat open. He watched as Hermione and Draco exchanged words when he saw another Death Eater fire a nasty bone breaker designed to shatter bones heading towards them. He watched as Draco threw himself in front of the spell. Decided to repay the favor he wandlessly cast a reflective shield and jumped down as the spell collided with the surprised Death Eaters chest killing, him. He heard Draco thank him but before he could reply five Death Eaters appeared at his end of the street, looking back he saw three more at the other end. Hoping that Hermione and Draco had his back he decided to see what he could do and summoned a blade of flames to bear down on the Death Eaters. After they were all down he turned and said a few quick words to Draco, he then apparated to the other end of town, hoping that Hermione hadn't recognized him.

The sight that greeted him when he arrived awed him. Dumbledore and Voldemort were throwing curses and hexes at each other, and from the looks of the area around him it was a pretty serious fight. Though considering the two that were involved he wasn't all that surprised. Noticing that Voldemort seemed to have the advantage over the older Dumbledore he decided that it was time that he joined the fight.

Waving his hand he banished a rock at the Dark Lord. He was a little surprised when the rock collided with him sending him crashing into the wall of a store on the side of the street. Knowing that this was far from the end he moved a little closer to his former headmaster.

"Looks like you could use some help old man." He stated watching as Voldemort pulled himself from the now collapsed building.

"It would appear so. I must admit that was some impressive wandless you displayed back there. Might I ask who exactly are you?" Dumbledore asked sensing that the young man next to him was at least as powerful as he was. Noticing that Voldemort was heading towards them he prepared to continue to fight.

"You can call me Lord Gryffindor." Harry replied talking loud enough that Voldemort would hear him. It had the desired effect as the snake like man stopped in his tracks, surprise clearly etched on his face.

"I didn't know that the Gryffindor line had survived after Godric had died." Voldemort stated. When he was younger he had looked into the families of all the founders to see if any were still alive. He had discovered that Helga still had quite a few descendent's while Rowena had only a few one of which was standing before him. But no matter how hard he tried he had never been able to find any descendants of Godric Gryffindor. Apparently that knowledge had been lost to the ages.

"Well it did, and here I am." Harry replied before launching a volley of spells with the wand that he had just drawn. He settled into a stance knowing that the coming fight would be the toughest one of his life.

A/N

First off I would like to apologize about how long it has taken to update. I got stuck and have been working a lot lately trying to prepare to move off on my own. Some notes about the chapter. The reason that no one knows about the connection between the Potter lines and the Gryffindor line is that Mathayus and Godric took great measures to insure that no one knew knowing that if they did it would be trouble for all Potters down the line. If you have any questions just ask. Peace out.


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